There are a lot of folks here who are comic fans. I'm not 100% sure who reads the comics or are just fans of the films, but for the most part there seems to be some pretty knowledgeable people here when it comes to the funny books. Figured this thread would work nicely for the overall discussion.
Post what you're reading too!
What I'm Reading:
PREACHER Book Three
Select Reviews: Once in a while I'll actually post a review to the "What I'm Reading" book. Here they are in "nsfw" tags due to length but, I assure you, they're safe for work
We Stand On Guard - 6.5/10:
Plowed through this in like an hour or less. Pretty good read and the art is magnificent, but it wasn't Brian K. Vaughan's best work by any means. He seems to work better in the serialized story genre, which this technically was, but it was a planned 6-issue miniseries, so it read more like a film in comic form. His character work is still on key, but in the limited story-space, some of them kind of fizzle out as opposed to have a satisfying end to their arc. And then there are some characters who don't fizzle out, but whose fates still leave a lot to be desired. Our main character is among that list.
Regardless, the overall story was strong enough and the concept of portraying the US' foreign policy as terrorism in a hypothetical 100-year time-jump was as interesting as it was bold - if a little awkward to read, being an American and all. Though it's easy enough to admit that this sort of wartime scenario wouldn't be difficult to imagine breaking out the exact way it does in this story, if the real-life situations mirrored the fantasy of this book. Which is a scary thought - as I'm assuming was the point: if we start warring as opposed to discussing over everything (water being the culprit here), where does it end?
So it was an interesting concept with extraordinary art, nearly perfect characterizations and some very memorable scenes, but the end was a bit of a disappointment and not many character arcs ended in any interesting way. I feel like this would have benefited if it were an on-going that ended after 2 or 3 years. It could have at least used 2 or 3 more issues to give proper time to all the characters. It was a cool concept, but a rare flub from Vaughan when it comes to a proper ending. image
Paper Girls: Volume 1 - 8.5/10:
I had already read the first 2 issues of Paper Girls before snagging the TPB, so the rest of the book was a breeze. This is another super strong story by Brian K Vaughan (LOST, Y The Last Man, Saga, Ex Machina, etc). It's very reminiscent of the nostalgic 80's "coming of age" movies - just with a sci-fi twist to keep it from straying too close. It's like a mix of Stand By Me, Gunther & The Paper Brigade, E.T. and, for a more modern comparison, the J.J. Abrams film Super 8. 4 bike-riding girls who deliver newspapers wake up early the morning after Halloween to find the town is in a real odd state. It's a plot that eventually delves into time travel, high-concept time wars and monster-ridden landscapes - but it does so in a way that is immediately reminiscent of the straight-forward coming of age stories we loved as kids. There are lots of pop-culture references - including one big one that actually acts as a really smart plot device to tease why things are going so crazy. This volume leaves you with the possible understanding of what drove certain characters to do what they did, while also not really over-indulging us with reveal after reveal.
I'd say definitely give it a shot if you're interested in that sort of thing. I can't wait until the next batch of issues is released.
Absolute Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison - 8.5/10:
Firstly, this hardcover is gorgeous. It comes in a thick slipcover and the book itself is great quality. The art looks great on the bigger pages, and this book really is super big. I'm about two thirds done at this point and I've already read the 8 issues from the New 52, but the whole epic has just been a great read through. The ending is one I can look forward to as I read like when watching a favorite movie. This was Morrison's brain child and it ran alongside his now legendary 7-year run on Batman. While some of that run lacked the quality of a top notch Morrison story, Batman Incorporated does not. While the idea of a franchised international bat-team, especially one run by Bruce Wayne, is kind of a contrived premise, Morrison is able to work little bits of Batman's past and spin the folks he'd met over the years (even the obscure ones) into the tale to make it something really worth checking out.
I dug the first half of the book just fine - but it was mostly all exposition issues for what was to come. I know Morrison spread this series out to run alongside the rest of his run, but the early chapters really seem to drag a bit. Probably wouldn't have been my favorite Bat-title if I were subscribed. While at the same time, those issues re-establish the bits of Batman's mythos that you'll need to know for this story via mostly self-contained issues featuring small-time villains and small-time allies alike. Once you get past the set-up, the book really gets incredibly good. It pays off the slower earlier issues in the best ways, connecting the dots between each early chapter. The "New 52" era issues are the best however, as this story's ending is one of the better pulled-off endings I've seen in recent years, It's very satisfying despite a tragedy or two along the way. image
Inhumans by Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee - 9/10:
This is one of my all-time favorite superhero stories ever written. It's a very cinematic self-contained story that ran for, I believe, 12 issues. It's some of the best character work a Marvel team-up book has ever had. Strong lead characters, a very memorable villain and a fascinating plot makes this one worth picking up again every once in a while. Think this will be my 3rd or 4th read-through of it, but it's always a great time. This is also the book that my avatar is inspired by. It's the "Relax" narration panel from this book - advice Black Bolt (the Inhumans' king) would give his people if he could speak without risking his voice killing everyone around him. It's advice I constantly try to remember. image
The Walking Dead Compendium Vol. 1 - 7/10 The Walking Dead Compendium Vol. 2 - 8.5/10
So I put a halt to my Walking Dead comic marathon that I started in time for the new season in October. I plowed through the first 2 Compendiums but with the holidays, so many new books that I was eager to read fell into my lap. So while I do intend on starting the Volume 3 back up in February to coincide with the return of Season 7 of the TV show, I figured I'd move this out of the "What I'm Reading Now" section. My review: It's real good. About 2/3 of Volume 1 are very hard to read at times due to the characters talking far too much, over-explaining situations and sometimes long-monologuing (not a word) about the same events in 2 or 3 different scenes. However about halfway through the Prison arc, when the Governor becomes a pivotal character, the series really hit its stride. Volume 2 is non-stop great, featuring many of the most memorable moments from the comics. I am indeed looking forward to Compendium Vol. 3 when the mood strikes, because that's where the series hits "legendary" status in my eyes. image
Kingdom Come - 7/10
This was a real fun story with a neat concept that kind of got muddled with the art. While the artist has done great work on very similar stories, this one featured a few panels that were hard to follow. I'm not sure if it was lazy art or the script wasn't the easiest to follow, but some things got lost in translation throughout. Regardless it was very cool to see older, grizzled versions of the golden age superheroes pulled out of retirement to deal with the "new generation" of heroes who were fine with casualties and chaos anytime they fought. This story also pulled off yet another new take on the Superman/Batman relationship that pays off real dramatically toward the end. All in all, a great Secret Santa gift and a fun story worth the read. image
Paper Girls: Volume 2 - 8/10
This was a great follow up to Volume 1 even if the 80's setting was sorely missed. Our characters find themselves in modern day and on a journey to find their friend after being chased by some humans from the far future with a technology-rooted culture. This series keeps things intriguing by having the main character Erin interact with her 2016-self and the dynamic there is a highlight of the book. There is some very witty banter between the Erins. Some twists (both tragic and very interesting) are thrown along the way - but this is a series that should be read as spoiler-free as possible. It has as satisfying of a cliffhanger as Volume 1, so I'm very much looking forward to Volume 3. image
Redwall: The Graphic Novel - 7.5/10
While I've only ever read a couple of the Redwall novels, I've always been fascinated by the series and its lore. I'd never read the first novel so the fact that it was in graphic novel form really enticed me. I was a little disappointed in the lack of color, as the novels always painted the settings with lush colors, but I was able to look past it for the memorable characters and villains.. Kluny the Scourge is classic. However some of the art, especially when it came to the Abbey Mice, was too similar. It was a little difficult to tell the main characters apart. This gets a bump up in points because while the first half of the book plays as a fantasy-by-numbers book starring animal characters, it eventually becomes a story about a legendary knight being reborn in an abbey monk. It was a cool little plot twist that, while telegraphed, I really didn't see coming. It makes me want to read the Martin the Warrior novel soon. image
Thor by Jason Aaron & Russell Dauterman - 9/10
Really great stuff from this creative team. Having not kept up with the Thor comics the past few years (much longer actually), I got this for Christmas. I have to say, I was blown away by what I read. A great mystery (that isn't a mystery anymore but for me it was) of who IS the new Thor, and Odinson (the OG male Thor) gets a real nice new complexity to his character as the "Unworthy Thor." It seems despite the MCU, Thor's comic line has been able to avoid the mainstream issues that other Marvel comics have lately. This book made me rush to snag the next couple books from the duo: Battleworld: Thors & The Mighty Thor Vol.1 and it also reminded me to check out Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen Vol. 1. image
Batman: The Court of Owls - 8/10 Batman: The City of Owls - 7/10 Batman: Death of the Family - 6/10
The Court of Owls - Court is a classic Batman story. It features new lore for the city of Gotham (something Snyder is great at), a new group of villains that were as intriguing as they were creepy, and a new threat that really made Batman seem like he was in an uphill battle. Hell, it even featured a climactic issue taking place in a giant death maze. Batman grew as a character, thinking he knew about Gotham better than anyone only to find out he can still learn new secrets. It also ended with a great cliffhanger if you were reading solely via trade paperback. It's too bad Snyder had a little trouble sticking the dismount. The City of Owls - This story starts up with the fun and memorable "Night of Owls" issue that features the Court's army of Talons (undead assassins) laying siege on Gotham and, most notably, Wayne Manor. It was a fun start to what would end up being an overly-telegraphed ending to what was set up in "Court of Owls." It also featured a reveal that left a bit to be desired - as it left a lot of ambiguity on the table. Which would have been a little more acceptable if the character involved played a larger role in Snyder's Batman, but having not appeared since, it kind of puts a damper on what could have been a little more menacing of an ending. Death of the Family - This is the story that got me back into collecting - and reading it without all the hype, it's really not that special. Nowhere near a top Joker story by any means. It featured a slasher-film version of Joker, not just in appearance (with his strapped on face-skin that had been removed a few months earlier) but also in character mechanics. Joker killed people a little too easily during the first issues, including snapping a bunch of cops necks in the dark somehow and drowning a bunch of rich kids. Which was the point, admittedly - to have an even more unhinged Joker. But as the story progressed it fell into cliche territory, with a bunch of well-tread Batman tropes: Joker trying to convince Batman he's weak due to the Bat-family, Batman and Nightwing arguing, Joker hosting a villain-fest for Batman (my #1 least favorite plot device in a Batman story is when the writer piles a bunch of high-profile villains into one issue), and Joker feeling some sort of misplaced "love" for Batman. And then there's the whole question of if the Joker knows who they all are or not. These are all themes I can get behind, but they've been presented far more accurately in better Joker stories - and not all crammed into 5 or 6 issues. There are some good moments in this story, with the highlight being the climactic Batcave chase that capped off the last issue, but that just wasn't enough to save the whole convoluted, almost try-hard story from being anything more than mediocre. This was a disappointment because Snyder had written one of the most memorable Joker scenes in modern Batman stories (in my opinion) just a few years earlier during his "Black Mirror" story. It was short and sweet and just perfect. His Joker in this story spoke in too many monologues about the same thing and just wasn't too funny. Capullo's art fudging ruled throughout all these books though.
However, Snyder took a much better whack at a Joker story with "Endgame," which is one of my favorite modern Joker stories, but that's not for another few volumes. Thankfully Snyder picked up his slack for the New 52 Batman origin which he told in epic fashion over the next 2 volumes. His run remained fun from that point on, and these books were still fun to read, but aside from "Court," the other ones are just average.
From Hell by Alan Moore - 7.5/10
After finally getting around to reading this book after getting it for Christmas 2 years ago, I can say it was worth the wait. Or has been. This book is a (fictionalized) investigation of the Jack the Ripper murders of the 1800's that suggests the string of homicides was an elaborate conspiracy pulled off by the Royal Family in order to keep the news of the Prince having an illegitimate child with a shopkeeper. This is based off a real theory but it has been debunked many times, even Moore himself. However, it's an interesting tale of what could have been all the same, while still managing to give an extremely accurate portrayal of the heinous acts and the aftermath they had on London at the time. The story of Sir William Gull is certainly intriguing to say the least. image
Uzumaki: Volume 1 - 7/10
Admittedly, I'm not the biggest manga reader - but I'm always willing to give interesting premises a shot. Dorohedoro Volume 1 is on deck, but I've been feeling a bit of a horror vibe lately and have been wanting to read this. Snagging it in a $15 lot with Revival Vol 1, Outcast Vol 1 and Wytches by Scott Snyder was just a bonus. Anyhow, this was a sort of starkly fun tale about a girl who lives in a town that's cursed by spirals. The shape. This is only Volume 1, so I'm not sure what the origin of these spirals are yet (if it's ever even revealed). This left me a little in the dark, but I decided to just go with it.
There were a few genuinely creepy moments in this one, but quite a few goofy moments that just didn't work for me. One example of something creepy was when two star-crossed lovers had somehow discovered a way to spiral into each other and opted for a life as intertwined spirals over their families keeping them apart. The imagery here, and at an earlier part of the book including a spiral-corpse, really hit home. One example of too goofy, however, was the two-girl showdown decided by who could get more attention based on the whacky spirals in their hair.
Unfortunately that second example was the story that ended Volume 1 so it kind of left off on an air fart, but the rest of the book has at least persuaded me to eventually check out Volume 2. image
Revival: Volume 1 - 7.5/10
I went into Revival completely in the dark and was pleasantly surprised. It was a quick read (a little too quick to be honest) but there were some really memorable characters. Many creepy moments too, and these first 5 issues really open up a few mysteries that I imagine the series tackles further down the road. Like Uzumaki, this first volume has gotten me interested in checking out volume 2.
There are some real questions presented about characters in this story that make me sort of anxious to read more, but these didn't really come until the last 2 issues. The first 3 were the standard "dead are coming back and the town doesn't know how to deal with it" situations with underlying tones of what was to come. My favorite aspect of the comic was the dynamic between a psychopath who claims to have met the devil and devotes his life to exercising demons by any fudgeed up means necessary, and a "revived" main character named Em who he claims is the devil incarnate. It's interesting because she definitely does some semi-dastardly things, and her actions within this first volume could easily fit the "devil in disguise" routine. The "demon" had a neat, simple and disturbing design too so I'm interested what more the series does with these entities moving forward. image
Wytches by Scott Snyder - 8/10
Real creepy, atmospheric tale about a girl who was "pledged" to the ancient Wytches that haunt a New Hampshire town. Great use of foreshadowing in this one, and the characters really worked. There is some clunky dialogue and silly character moments but otherwise, they all stand up.
I love the study of witches in general that this book features. Lots of lore - the "wytches" are portrayed as genetically "evolved" beings whose magic can grant anyone who pledges somebody to them their wildest dreams. They mark the portal to their world with ginger - thus the old "witches live in a gingerbread house" schtick. It's real fun the way Snyder presents the creatures as grounded in some sort of reality that is able to explain away a bunch of real-life myths about witches. image
Saga: Deluxe Edition Volume 1 - 10/10 Saga: Deluxe Edition Volume 2 - 10/10 Saga Volume 7: The War for Phang - 7.5/10
Image just dropped the Deluxe Edition Volume 2, so I re-read Deluxe Edition Volume 1 in anticipation. Plowed through both within a day or two, and then read where the story left off with the trade-paperback for Saga Volume 7, dubbed "The War for Phang". My "Phang" write-up contains spoilers, so beware.
The first book is an exercise in world-building, character development and story-telling. There's so much to this story that it's hard to want to type about it, but it's a fantasy epic that spans different planets over the course of one child, Hazel's life. She narrates it as we, the reader, get to watch her parents (two former soldiers of warring homeworlds) sacrifice everything to keep her hidden. Being a "hybrid" of two races, she is a highly sought-after person when news breaks of her existence.
The second book is more of the same - but better, if possible. Lots of incredible visuals, the characters are taken in directions that are genuinely surprising and the story progresses at exactly the right pace. Brian K Vaughn has a way of creating very personal moments on an epic sci-fi backdrop. This book just furthers the fun of the story, even if some major gore and violence occurs along the way. It's always done in a surprising and honestly interesting way.
Volume 7: The War for Phang was a noticeable step down in my opinion, but still a strong entry into the series compared to most comics. My issue with this portion of the story was its overly-bleak atmosphere. Saga can absolutely get bleak and tragic at times, but most of the time there is another character's plot to add some levity or color. In "The War for Phang", just about all the characters are brought to the lowest we've ever seen them. Some of the tragic nature seems a little forced, to be honest. One moment when a drugged out Prince Robot insinuates that he is either going to rape Alana (Hazel's mother) or kill himself was a little out-of-nowhere considering their relationship up to that point. Then the big twist in the last issue was fittingly tragic, but just seemed like another tack in this overly-bleak tale. There was also a 2-headed villain introduced in this batch of issues that, for the first time since Saga started, left me underwhelmed with the design of a character. And what makes that character worse, is that they (two heads) leave devastating effects in their wake for our main characters - but, having been killed at the end, ultimately won't play a huge part going forward. It felt a little too quick - to bring our characters so far low only to have the threat eliminated quickly, like they just needed an excuse to torture the characters.
I'm hoping all this leads to some real good character development in the issues to come ("Phang" was about 50/50 in that department) or else this volume will always sort of stick out as needlessly bleak portion of the story. image
There are definitely some cool things that they directly take from the comics like:
"You gotta be one of the good guys, son:"
I know Ennis gets criticized a lot for the vulgarity and toilet humor/edgelord crap but there is still some great crap he does even in his vulgar stuff. Aside from Crossed that is, that crap's just vulgar for the sake of it.
It certainly isn't as bad an adaptation from what I hear about Locke & Key becoming a teen aimed show though. I'm not sure how you'd make Preacher into a show aimed at young kids though.
> I know Ennis gets criticized a lot for the vulgarity and toilet humor/edgelord crap
> but there is still some great crap he does even in his vulgar stuff. Aside from
> Crossed that is, that crap's just vulgar for the sake of it.
I mean for sure, Preacher was a great story front-to-back even with the edgy stuff in there. I don't even consider it THAT edgy considering it accentuates the story being told for the most part. Yah the Herr Starr stuff got weird plenty of times but it also aided in his character development the whole time through, so it's justified.
It isn't like The Boys, which just came off as super try-hard when I tried reading it. It's one thing to have edgy elements in a legitimate story, it's another thing to have edgy elements in a parody superhero story where a lot of it comes off as if a horny high school student were writing random scenes for his own personal amusement.
Though I will say finishing Preacher has made me want to maybe give The Boys another go. I just keep thinking "there HAS to be a good story in there somewhere, the guy who wrote Preacher wrote it!"
> It certainly isn't as bad an adaptation from what I hear about Locke & Key becoming
> a teen aimed show though. I'm not sure how you'd make Preacher into a show aimed
> at young kids though.
To be fair, the Locke & Key comics always sort of had that "young adult fantasy" vibe to it anyways. There were definitely horror-adjacent moments but the art style and overall concept sort of leaned more toward the young adult Harry Potter side of things as opposed to a story aimed at adults. The main selling point of the Locke & Key comics, for me, was the mystery and lore that gets unraveled as the story goes more so than a super deep plot (although there are some pretty great character moments in there).
I've seen most of the first season of the show and thought it was "just okay" in the way it goes about remixing the comic arcs, but the "geared toward teens" aspect was always sort of inevitable.
Yah that's the impression I got from attempting to read it. I have the first 2 omnibus volumes but there's like... 8? If it doesn't get worth it until the back half, I'll probably never make it.
Halfway through Episode 5 and I think I kinda have an idea as to what they're aiming for...
In the comics, we meet Jesse after Genesis binds with him and we see this caused an explosion that killed everyone in his church (town?), which in turn causes Jesse to lose faith in God and begin his "job" of hunting him down.
Seems like the show is just taking a more roundabout approach to get to Jesse's "last straw". He's definitely abusing his power, so I imagine he himself will likely end up being the reason for whatever tragedy's coming, whether that be Donny flying off the handle or Quincanon's newfound religious zeal backfiring somehow (or some other reason). Heck maybe there's just a surge of Genesis' powers for some reason and we still get the explosion - either way I get the impression they're introducing us to all these towsfolk like Emily so that it's a little more heavy when some major tragedy kills them off, which will, in theory, help us relate and empathize with Jesse.
Could be off-base with that but that's what I'm expecting, no need to let me know one way or the other as I'll see soon enough. I'm digging the show more with each episode though, especially the Saint's flashbacks, so that's neat.
Just finished Season 1 of Preacher. @Kommie when you said this season was him going back to his hometown, I was totally expecting the Grandma arc from the comics but that never happened. Wasn't Anville where they lived in the comics? Also, I take it meat-baby is the meat-wife allusion you were referring to?
I thought the whole "heaven phone" thing was a little silly. I wish the angels looked a little more like the angels from the comics (obv not sure if we ever get that version in seasons 2-4), and I feel the storytelling got a liiittle sloppy toward the end of the season (one episode in particular was a bit of a mess), but otherwise I dug the season/finale for the most part. Cool remix of the comic's background story.
I thought the cause of explosion was witty, though I sorta wish that still helped drive Jesse's search for God (as the episode presents it, he doesn't even know it happened). Effective way to get rid of all the characters who were no longer around after the first arc or two of the comics (while also nipping the Quincanon stuff in the bud early).
> Just finished Season 1 of Preacher. @Kommie when you said this season was him going
> back to his hometown, I was totally expecting the Grandma arc from the comics but
> that never happened. Wasn't Anville where they lived in the comics? Also, I take
> it meat-baby is the meat-wife allusion you were referring to?
>
>
I was referring to them combining the later Quincannon story from the comic into season 1. The Grandma stuff does happen in the show. And yeah, meat baby = meat wife
They definitely made Quincannon a bit more realistic in the show as opposed to the straight up cartoon character he was in the comics. That comic arc was one of the lulls I was referring to recently. Felt like Quincannon belonged in an entirely different comic and those issues dragged on a bit too long. Some of that is likely because of the cliffhanger that came right before it, and the knowledge that the series was ending much sooner than later.
lol I like that they had Jesse and Cassidy trick the acting agent by saying they had a role for Game of Thrones in the same episode Hitler appears, played by Noah Taylor, who played Locke in Game of Thrones.
lol when I started the Preacher show I never expected them to give Hitler...
...a redemption story. The balls on this show. Not huge into the concept of painting that stupid butt-hole in any sort of positive light but can't pretend I wasn't entertained by it nonetheless. I was iffy on the whole Hell story arc for this season but it turned out just fine.
Arseface is a lot less naive in the show compared to the books, interested to see where it goes from here.
I still enjoyed the show, the only new plot point they did that I really didn't like was the one involving the Chienese (I think they were chinese) black market thing. Not gonna post more as I'm sure if you're at that part.
Almost at the end of Season 3 Episode 1. Tulip is...
..."dead" and currently talking to God in the dog costume. I like that they're not just going with the comics version for how God looks (even though I loved that, especially when he points at Tulip to tell her he's a loving god), but I wish they carried this arc out the way the comics did. With Jodie shooting Tulip and God bringing her back, and then Jesse & Tulip extracting their revenge. They may still do that obv but I feel like the scene I'm watching now is supposed to be the show's version of that scene. I mean, Tulip already got shot and "died" so it'd be weird to do it again.
I take it you're enjoying it? Obviously it's never gonna be able to be 100% like the comic. All the humor is still there though, which matters a lot. Albeit it isn't as juvenile, mostly.
Yah definitely digging it so far. There are aspects I like more from the comics but all in all it's a good re-telling of ultimately the same story.
Honestly, it seems they got all my least-favorite arcs from the comic out of the way in the first 2 seasons and it was still entertaining. But now they're getting into the arcs that really grabbed me.
Back to comics, I'm finally going to plow through Sandman. Looking over the list of trades, I've only ever read Volume 2 for some reason. I remember absolutely loving it, and I have the first two here at the house, so I'm gonna give it the ol' complete read through.
Figured after Preacher, I may as well finally read one of the OTHER pillars in the comic world too.
Just wonder what I'll jump into after. I've now read Saga, Paper Girls, Preacher, The Walking Dead, Y The Last Man, Irredeemable, Invincible, Locke & Key & most of Hellboy (but I'm saving a full read-through of that for spooky season).
I'm sure I'm missing a few that I've read, but what other landmark lengthy comic series are there that I need to read?
I'm also a really huge fan of Terry Moore's "Strangers in Paradise". Not superheroes, but I've always loved the three-way relationship between the main characters. It tends to stretch into a little ridiculous territory now and then, but I still love it.
Oh yah, will be reading in order, can’t stand not going start to finish these days, & I’ll definitely give Strangers in Paradise a look. Haven’t been reading as many superhero books, craving some strong ongoing stories out of that genre lately.
I’m a big fan of Redwall from back in the day, so I’ve always been interested in Mouse Guard, and I actually have the first volume of Miracleman that I still need to read. Good calls, thanks for the reminders.
I have the fourth volume of that Rachel Rising series but never gave it a go because, well, it's the fourth volume. $30 is definitely not a bad deal for all those comics.
RE: the Preacher show. Never thought this would be a something I'd be analyzing but it's a little jarring how much wider Arseface's mouth gets by Season 3. In Season 1 it's tiny and by Season 3 it looks normal mouth-sized, just minus the lips and all. I imagine the actor wanted a bit more mobility in his face but it's taking some getting used to haha
So I started reading Sandman with the first paperback volume, and planned to read the second paperback because I already have it, but totally decided to move to the deluxe hardcovers. I bought Deluxe Volume 2 because it compiles paperback volumes 3 & 4, but 100% went and ordered Volume 1 after I saw the presentation of these books. Just look at this fudging cover, so shelf-worthy. Could do without the Audible ad printed directly on the paper, but otherwise, it’s gorgeous.
It's crazy how many times they keep re-releasing Sandman volumes.
I had some of the original paperbacks, and then in 2012 they released a box set remastered with new coloring and better paper stock that was to die for, so I nabbed that.
Now like every six months there are newer and newer releases with various covers. It's nuts that they constantly sell well, and especially nuts how big Sandman is now, twenty-something years later.
I love the series, it's so well done.
Also pick up the Death collection. At the very least pick up Death: the High Cost of Living which was the first Death mini series. That is one of my all time favorite stories.
I'm so happy that Sandman is still so popular.
I'm actually going to see Neil Gaiman in Boston this Friday night. I can't bring anything to sign, but I try to catch his Q&A's whenever he's around.
The coloring in The Sandman always bothered me when I tried to read it... I do realize it's from the 80's and that's the way it was but damn is it bad to me.
